Alstrum AI · Field Guide·Issue 01 · 2026

Stage Like the Desk.

A retail field guide to reading options data, dealer positioning, and institutional flow across equities, rates, FX, commodities, and crypto.

Pages
21
Size
377 KB
Written by
Kai Kaijuka
Format
PDF
EquitiesRatesFXCommoditiesCrypto
What’s inside

Stage Like the Desk is the framework I use to read the tape the way the desk reads it — before retail does. Every section answers the same three questions across each asset class: who is positioned, how the hedging is set, and where new money is moving.

You will leave with a Sunday Watchlist build you can run in under an hour, three trade plans (multi-week, swing, and intraday gamma regime), and a list of the mistakes that burn retail every cycle. This is a framework, not a signal service. If you have ever felt locked out of how markets actually work, this is the door.

Table of contents
  1. 01Why retail is last to the plate
  2. 02The Three Layers framework
  3. 03Layer 1 · Positioning· by asset class
  4. 04Layer 2 · Dealer mechanics· by asset class
  5. 05Layer 3 · Flow· by asset class
  6. 06The Sunday Watchlist Build
  7. 07Trade Plan A · Multi-week· positioning anchored
  8. 08Trade Plan B · Swing· dealer anchored
  9. 09Trade Plan C · Intraday· gamma regime
  10. 10Mistakes that burn retail
  11. 11Resources by asset class
  12. 12What's next
About the author
Kai Kaijuka
Founder, Alstrum AI · Author, Breaking Structure

Kai writes the weekly Relay and is building Stryk — the intraday version of this framework. If you read the guide and want it running live, that’s the product underneath.

The framework, applied intraday
This is the manual. Stryk is the platform.

Stryk runs the same three-layer read — positioning, dealer mechanics, and flow — in real time, with confidence-scored signals routed to your broker. Founding price is locked.

Reserve a seat